More than 20% of Twitter is Spam/Fake Accounts: Elon Musk

Last week, Twitter claimed that only 5% of the social network’s userbase is made up of spam/fake accounts, a major factor in determining Twitter’s value as a company. Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to this claim by saying that his Twitter acquisition is currently on hold but he is still committed.

Musk has now shared another tweet that claims that more than 20% of Twitter’s userbase is made up of spam/fake accounts. This is 4 times higher than Twitter’s original claim and could actually be much higher than that.

Musk is now asking for proof that shows fake accounts are only 5% of the userbase.

20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher.

My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate.

Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%.

This deal cannot move forward until he does.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2022

This means that Musk could easily use this to leverage a much better deal than his original offer at $44 billion, but that remains to be seen. He is threatening to halt the acquisition deal until Twitter’s CEO actually clears the air regarding fake accounts.

On Monday he said that he could seek to pay a lower price for Twitter while talking about fake account concerns. He said that reducing his agreed $54.20 a share offer wouldn’t be “out of the question”, days after putting the $44 billion deal “on hold”.

Twitter has responded to the development saying that it is “committed to completing the transaction on the agreed price and terms”.

JUST IN: Twitter says it is "committed to completing the transaction on the agreed price and terms as promptly as practicable," in response to Elon Musk's comments about bots https://t.co/erq6JDNslZ pic.twitter.com/QyRo2UqBPm

— Bloomberg (@business) May 17, 2022

We’ll have to wait and see how the situation develops further, but it’s safe to assume that the acquisition will be a tumultuous one.